A South Yorkshire hit-and-run driver is jailed after he left a pedestrian with life-threatening injuries

Sheffield Crown Court heard on March 4 how Jacob Sanderson, aged 22, of Pogmoor Road, Pogmoor, Barnsley, had been driving away from a police car when he hit a pedestrian near Wood Street, at Worsbrough Common, Barnsley, and left him lying in the road with life-threatening injuries.

Amy Earnshaw, prosecuting, said police saw Sanderson’s Audi A3 driving at speed going from Park Road to Cemetery Road, in Barnsley, on the A6133 and they followed the vehicle with their blue lights illuminated but the defendant failed to stop.

Ms Earnshaw added Sanderson panicked because he had been smoking cannabis and had the class B drug in his car and he fled driving dangerously at speed while crossing junctions.

Police lost sight of Sanderson on Duke Street but they found a pedestrian with life-threatening injuries on Wood Street after he had been walking home with a friend and had been involved in a collision with the defendant, according to Ms Earnshaw.

The friend stated he had heard a car coming fast when the pedestrian was struck.

Ms Earnshaw said: “He saw his friend fly in the air and land some distance down the road and he said he was driving at a far greater speed than he should have been and he recognised the vehicle as an Audi.”

The court heard how a police officer feared the pedestrian was dead after he had suffered a head injury, a swelling and deformity of the jaw, haemorrhaging on the brain, multiple facial fractures and an injured shoulder.

Ms Earnshaw said: “He had a clear tyre mark on his back and he was unconscious and was not moving. There was blood coming from his mouth and the back of his head.”

Police later located the Audi in the Oxspring area on fire, according to Ms Earnshaw, and Sanderson claimed it had been stolen but his mobile phone showed he had been in the vicinity of the burned out vehicle.

Sanderson pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving and to perverting the course of justice after the collision on May 6, 2018.

The injured pedestrian stated: “I know that the driver didn’t run me down intentionally but I cannot understand why he did not stop for the police that night.

"I am struggling and doing the best I can but at the end of the day I am glad I’m still alive.”

James Baird, defending, said Sanderson is hard working and coached a junior football team and he was previously considered to be of exemplary good character.

He added: “This young man made the most dreadful serious mistakes simply because he had taken some cannabis and had some cannabis in his car when he was being followed by a police car and that resulted in tragic consequences for the victim.”

Judge Michael Slater sentenced Sanderson to 30 months of custody and disqualified him from driving for 39 months.

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